


We'll Be Home for Christmas

by SaintOfTheSinners



Category: Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas fic, Fluffy, Fresh Start, Gift Exchange, Home Vibes, I'll add more tags later, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, M/M, OOC, SSS2016, Sappy, StuckySecretSanta2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:17:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9073531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintOfTheSinners/pseuds/SaintOfTheSinners
Summary: Bucky and Steve have finally reached a point in their life together where they need a change. After all this, what does home mean to them?





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [@sfdce on Tumblr](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=%40sfdce+on+Tumblr).



> On Tumblr I am stucky-if-ya-nasty and I am Sfdce's secret santa for the 2016 Stucky Secret Santa. I hope this brings a smile to your face; it has been a pleasure writing for you. I'm sending you only the best vibes and biggest virtual hugs.   
> (I didn't have a proper Beta, but s/o to Elyse for reading the first few pages and putting up with my worried texts at all hours of the day)

Steve never thought the fight would end. So much of his life had been spent fighting. Everyone seems to have two pictures of him in their head: a scrappy runt doing the right thing or a powerful man fighting for his country. But Steve knew better; yes, he wanted to fight for his country and yes he didn’t like bullies, still doesn’t, but, for him, a lot of his fighting had been for just one other thing. Bucky. It was always Bucky and it always will be. Bucky is the one thing that Steve would go to the ends of the earth for, and he already did. He hunted him with Sam for months, went on the run with him, and ended up in Wakanda watching him sleep for the past five months. But soon he’s going to wake up. Steve didn’t understand how they were healing him while he was in cryo, but he didn’t really care what they did as long as they could get Bucky to wake up healthy again. Four months in, they found severe complications from HYDRA’s arm. There were chemicals and micro technology that were targeting different parts of Bucky’s body and destroying it, and the doctors were doing what they could, but after a month there was nothing else they could do. They said the damage was done. Steve remembered hearing those words and then shutting down. He vaguely remembered digging his fingernails into the glass in front of Bucky’s body and weeping, but after that, nothing. Steve finally broke down and called Tony; he doesn’t remember exactly what he said to get Tony’s help, but days later, he woke up to Tony standing over him while snacking on blueberries and looking like he felt. Like shit.  
“I know it wasn’t really him,” he started, “But it was my parents. It was my mom. Logically, I know a lot of things, and I can’t fight what’s automatic, but I’m man enough to admit that the way I acted wasn’t right…not by a long shot. I got dealt a shitty hand, so did a lot of us, but his is pretty fucking bad. That arm, those toxins…that’s some pretty serious torture considering those HYDRA bastards don’t even have their hands on him anymore. So I’m here. I’m in. I got this.”  
Having said his piece, he turned away and left Steve on the couch feeling a weird mixture of confused and hopeful. 

***  
Bucky was awake. The Wakandan doctors, Wanda, Tony, and Helen Cho and her team of doctors had forcibly removed Steve from the medical facility somewhere within the first hour of Bucky’s defrosting and subsequent surgery, but now he was awake with Steve at his side. Steve slept beside him in a chair as he laid in a fancy medical bed with tubes and wires and oxygen and high doses of painkillers all hooked up to him. If he were more alert, Bucky would have felt uncomfortable with all the clinical equipment, but he was so tired that at this point he didn’t care. He just felt strange. Tired, for sure, but floaty…maybe? His head was all fuzzy, but there was less background noise and he didn’t feel like he was on edge. In fact, he didn’t feel much at all. Well, that wasn’t quite true; he felt plenty, but none of it was what he was accustomed to. The blankets were soft, the bed was warm, and he couldn’t remember the last time he felt so comfortable. Thanks to his arm there was always a current of discomfort and pain running through his body, but now there was nothing.   
He glanced down to his left shoulder and saw that there really was nothing. Not even a trace of the metal plates that he’s dealt with for so long; just a strangely smooth stump about six inches long from his shoulder. It felt smooth and perfect under his fingers as they stroked over the flesh. This wasn’t his skin. It was too healthy, too glowy, too fresh. It was attached to him, but it wasn’t him, and if it wasn’t him…what was it?

***  
Steve was pulled from his slumber by the rapid beeping of a heart monitor and the frantic thrashing of Bucky’s limbs in the bed. He leapt up, searching for an unseen threat, before grabbing Bucky’s hand in his and clutching him tightly to his body until his form slumped slightly in his arms and his movements lost their aggressive edge. He settled more firmly onto the edge of the bed, “Buck; it’s going to be okay. You’re safe here. We can fight through this together now. You and me.” Steve kept up a steady stream of promises and comforting words and Bucky helplessly buried his face into Steve’s neck and wrapped his arm around his impossibly tiny waist. 

“Stevie, I just wanna go home.” Was mumbled into his neck, and with those words Bucky broke his heart all over again, and made him feel like he was a 5 foot 4 inch tall helpless loser again. Because Steve had no idea what “home” meant anymore and if he ever would again. 

***  
They worked tirelessly with the doctors at their disposal to make sure that Bucky’s triggers were de-programmed and that any chance of a lapse back into The Winter Soldier was minimized. November was a whirlwind of therapists and surgeons and engineers and geniuses and the Scarlet Witch doing a million different things to help Bucky as best they could.   
After Bucky’s initial freak-out over his ‘new’ left ‘arm’ he got used to it. Helen Cho’s newly-built Cradle played a huge part in healing Bucky’s body after the defrosting from cryo and his following procedure to remove the rest of HYDRA’s technology from his body. They explained to him how they disconnected the remainder of the arm and inserted magnetized metal needles to remove the microtechnology in his bloodstream before placing him in the cradle to heal the incisions and what was left of his shoulder. All of it was so strange to him because it felt like mere hours since he decided to be frozen months before; however, nothing was as strange as when they told him that they could completely re-grow his left arm back, if he wanted. Bucky didn’t know what he wanted. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He knew he wanted two things: to go home and Steve.   
Steve had been his everything since the day they met, and now he could remember every blessed detail about how he felt about him. From their first kiss to their last one. At least, the last one before his most recent awakening because honestly Thank-God-We’ve-Both-Made-It-This-Far-And-We-Can-Finally-Be-Together kisses are best experienced as soon as possible once someone wakes up from a self induced coma. If Bucky wasn’t being poked and prodded by doctors, then he was with Steve reacquainting himself with the love of his life and loving every second of it. But by the time Thanksgiving rolled around Bucky was exhausted with his surroundings and life he regained.   
“Hey, Stevie?,” Bucky started, “Do you like it here?”  
Steve considered his question for a moment. He didn’t dislike Wakanda. They were living in a virtual palace for god’s sake! But it was somewhat…cold. Kind of impersonal in their shared suite which bore no personal touches from either one of them. As he laid in the bed with Bucky flung across his chest he realized that it might as well have been a hotel room. “I guess I do…but only because there’s not much to dislike. It’s very nice and everyone here is very accommodating.”   
“Oh.” Bucky remained silent for a moment as he absorbed the answer. “How would you feel if I…left?”   
“Upset,” Steve’s answer was immediate, “I love you. And I just got you back, so I don’t know what I’d do if you went away again.”   
“Well then what if we left together? Just you and me, finding our own little place away from all this stuff. From the doctors and the agents and the politics. We can go home.”  
Steve’s heart clenched and his arms wound around the man laying on him. “That would be swell, Buck. But I don’t know where we would go. Neither one of us has a home to go back to. The closest thing I had to home since I woke up was my DC apartment and that was owned by SHIELD and destroyed a while back. And you had that shitty room in Europe which we couldn’t consider a home at all.”  
“But wouldn’t it be great? We can start over. You’re hardly recognizable anymore because your hair is darker and you have your beard, which I’m a huge fan of by the way, and I don’t have that metal monstrosity and I’ll cut my hair. We can do this!” Bucky was practically vibrating with happiness as he realized that this could actually work for them.   
There’s no way Steve could say no to Bucky, not when he was so excited like this. His eyes were bright and clear as they looked up at him through dark lashes and the subtle smiles on his lips was so perfect that Steve just had to lean in and steal a quick kiss, “Let’s do it.” The answering smile was blinding before Bucky captured his lips in a passionate kiss. 

***  
It wasn’t easy for them to tell everyone that they were leaving, but they were sent away with nothing but good will…and a credit card with no limit because Tony loves throwing money at people instead of properly expressing his emotions. Following final check-ups and psych evals they boarded a private jet back to New York City on December 10th with promises to stay in touch and to keep Dr. Cho updated on Bucky’s decision regarding a new arm.   
Steve and Bucky holed themselves up in a hotel room in Manhattan as they considered their next move, “Where should we start? Money isn’t an issue, gosh that still feels weird to say, so we have the whole city at our feet. What now?”   
Bucky knew Steve had a point and that he should care more about finding a solid place to live, but he was just thrilled to be out from under everyone’s watchful eye, “I don’t know,” his stomach rumbled loudly, “But I know that I need to eat, and if I’m hungry, then I’m sure you are too. So let’s go! I want pizza.” He pulled Steve up off the bed and off they went to a hole-in-the-wall pizza place. 

***  
“So Bucky, what kind of place do you want us to live in?” Steve had been trying to get Bucky to talk about their living situation since the day they checked into their hotel. Now they’d been living out of their room for a week; spending their days wandering around the city aimlessly with Steve pointing at every For Sale sign he saw and Bucky pointing out every dog. Today was no different; they’d finally worked their way out to their old neighborhood in Brooklyn and were quickly coming up on the street they met.   
“I don’t know Steve. Somewhere with windows.” He didn’t really care that much about the windows, but he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.   
Steve grabbed Bucky’s arm and pulled him to a stop. “What’s wrong?”   
Bucky answered with a noncommittal shrug, “Nothin’ Stevie.”  
“Don’t ‘Nothin’ Stevie’ me. Ever since we left Wakanda you’ve been dodging my questions about any potential places. I’ve been fine with you brushing me off about this, but we need to figure this out. You wanted to leave and start over again, and now I’m here and I’m ready and I want to make this happen. For you. With you. Please just tell me if I’m doing something wrong.” Steve didn’t know what else to do. He was all in for starting over, but now Bucky acted like he didn’t even want any of it.   
Bucky reached out and grabbed Steve’s hand in his, “I do want this, even though I’m not really showing it right now. I just don’t know how to start over because I feel like we’re too close to everything I’d like us to escape from. I mean, we’re standing in Brooklyn for god’s sake! You got beat up in every alley we’ve passed for the last ten blocks. We’re in spittin’ distance of the apartment you were born in. If we move back here, then it’s not really starting over…is it?” Maybe Bucky was being dramatic, but he deserved a bit of drama after all he’s been through dammit!   
Steve started to chuckle with a soft smile on his face, “I’m very relieved you haven’t changed your mind and decided to cut and run on me.” He quickly wrapped his arms around the other man and lifted him off the ground in a large hug, spinning him around in a circle. “C’mon Bucky!” He grabbed Bucky’s hand once more and tugged him behind as he ran towards the nearest street corner before loudly whistling for a bright yellow taxi. “Let’s blow this popsicle stand!”  
Bucky laughed as they climbed into the back of the cab while Steve urged the driver to get them to the airport as fast as possible. “Where are we going?”  
Steve lovingly looked over at the love of his life, “I don't have a damn clue.”  
***  
They stood shoulder to shoulder in front of a big airline desk at the airport, eyes scanning the screens in front of them for the next flight out of New York.   
“Nebraska?”  
“Nah, too much corn.”  
“Iowa?”  
“And go to the state that created Clint Barton? No thank you.”  
“Bucky, you don’t even know him.”  
“I’ve heard stories.”  
“What about there?” Steve pointed to a row that showed a departure flight that left in 50 minutes, “If we leave on the next flight, we’ll be there in 2 hours and 15 minutes. It’s a straight shot.”  
“It’s not really a straight shot if we’re on it though, is it?”   
Steve snorted, “Shut up jerk. What do you say?”  
“Let’s blow this popsicle stand, punk.”  
***  
“Good evening passengers, this is your Captain speaking, it is a cool thirty three degrees outside. If you’re sitting by a window, then as you look to your right you’re see the bright lights of the Windy City. Welcome to Chicago.”

***  
“Why did we think this was a good idea Steve? I’m friggen cold.”   
“C’mon Bucky, it’s been this cold in New York before. When we were in Europe it was in the negative degrees. You lived in Russia for how long?” Despite his teasing Steve still wrapped his arm tighter around Bucky as they made the trek from the cab to yet another hotel.   
“So? I’m still cold Steve. Where are we anyways? I thought we were just moving to Chicago. The hotel says it’s in Evanston.”  
“It is Chicago. Ish. I think. Maybe it’s like the Brooklyn of Chicago? It’s still nice though, we passed a lot of gorgeous places on the drive from O’Hare. Seems like a nice place to settle down. Not a lot of noise.”  
They quickly made it to their room and began to look through the newspaper that Steve insisted they needed from the airport (to commemorate the day they moved to the city, Bucky!) until they fell asleep tangled together. The next morning brought an icy wind chill that cut through their layers as they explored their new community. They stopped in at a small Greek diner where they ate their weight in corned beef and pancakes as they spoke to an older gentleman about their plans to settle in after leaving New York, leaving out some minor details about the who and the why.   
“You know, you two might be pleased to learn that I moved here from New York city too; 45 years ago. I chased a skirt all the way here, and we got married the day I showed up on her doorstep with keys to a shoebox apartment. My Moira was a Chicago girl through and through,” The man pulled out a pocket watch and showed them a picture of a pretty blonde woman laughing in the direction of the camera, “We met at an audition. I was her accompanist; she was a real firecracker. Had a helluva voice too, but couldn’t dance to save her life. What a woman.” Steve and Bucky watched as he slowly put the watch back into his pocket and dabbed at the corner of his eye with his sleeve. “But I’m sure I’m boring you two young men with my ramblings.” He chuckled softy, “Where was I? Ah right. Chicago is a great place to live, to work, to raise a family.” He smirked at the two of them as he watched them blush at his statement. “And I actually have a friend who’s selling a house that might be perfect for you two guys. You both seem like you have an appreciation for things that are quite a bit older.” He pointed them in the direction of a 90 year old woman looking to sell her family home by scribbling her name and address on a coffee stained napkin, “Now at least go look at the place before you dismiss it as a silly idea from an old senile man,” he stood and put on his hat and coat, “Welcome home boys.”  
As they watched him leave Steve carefully memorized what was on the napkin and placed it in his pocket. “I think we should go check out this place Buck.”  
“Obviously,” Bucky stood and threw a few twenties down on the chipped formica countertop, gathering his layers and bundling up, “If we don’t it’d be like pushing my gramps down a flight of stairs.”   
Steve followed Bucky’s move and trailed after him out the door, “You know we’re both at least 30 years older than him right?”  
“So? He had a paternal vibe, and I’m not entirely convinced he’s not a Christmas ghost. Plus we both look a lot younger than him. We can’t help our sexiness despite our real ages.” Bucky shoved his shoulder into Steve’s a shot him a cheeky grin. “Now, c’mon, let’s check out our potential new house!”

***  
They bought the house 15 minutes into meeting Grace Harper. She was so thrilled that she literally clutched the strand of pearls around her throat. Bucky was very amused. 

***  
They properly moved into their new house on December 20th after a bank-breaking shopping trip to all the furniture stores that they passed during their daily walks. The house itself was large, with huge windows on both floors, and a great view of the lake from their porch (we have a porch Steve!). All of the rearranging of furniture was finished by noon thanks to the fact that they were both built like brick shithouses, and they finally sat down on their new sofa facing the fireplace when Bucky stood up like a shot.   
“Steve, we have a big problem.”   
Steve was actually concerned with the troubled look on the other man’s face, “What’s wrong Bucky? Did you hear something? Will we need backup?”   
“Yes. We need backup. Christmas is in four days and we don’t have any decorations, we haven’t done any Christmas activities, and neither one of us have bought presents yet.”   
The sofa welcomed Steve back into its embrace as he sagged with relief, “Oh. Is that all?”  
Bucky’s gasp was downright comical, “Is that all? Steve! This is our first christmas together in decades, and now we have a beautiful house and a beautiful future ahead of us!”  
“Alright, alright. So what do we do now?” Steve was pulled out of the comfort of the cushions and straight into the whirlwind that is Bucky Barnes on a Christmas Mission. 

***  
The three days leading up to Christmas Eve were so packed full of Christmas cheer that Steve couldn’t even keep all the activities in straight in his head. They wen’t ice skating in millennium park, rode the ferris wheel in Navy Pier, rode all the rides at Winter Wonderfest, ate spiced nuts and glüwien at the German Christmas market in Daley Plaza, ate at the Walnut Room, took a picture with Santa at Macy’s, and somehow managed to deck out their entire house in Christmas lights and fit an eight foot tall tree in their family room.   
Finally it was Christmas Eve and time to sleep before their first holiday in their new house, “Bucky, when are you going to come to bed? I know you're excited but-. Bucky? Are you really leaving out milk and cookies?”  
“Steve you were on a evil-fighting team with a literal god. I’m not completely ruling out the possibility of Santa; plus it’s fun. It’s tradition.”   
Steve loved seeing Bucky like this. Carefree and child-like. In moments like this he could almost forget all of the horrors that they’d gone through to get to this point in their lives, but then he remembers and is taken aback with gratitude for the miracles they’d experienced. “I love you.”   
“I know.”  
“Okay Han Solo, let’s get you to bed. We wouldn’t want Santa to skip over our house just because one naughty boy won’t go to sleep.”  
“Punk.”  
“Jerk.”  
***  
Christmas morning found Steve lazily blinking the sleep from his eyes and he peered up at the ceiling from the comfort of his bed, and hearing the faint clanging of metal. He wandered downstairs in his pajamas and was assaulted with the sights and smells of Bucky pulling dozens of cookies out of their oven. “This isn’t a very nutritious breakfast.”   
“We forgot to bake Christmas cookies! How could we forget about cookies?! Quick, mix those walnuts into the butter cookie dough!”   
Steve calmly pulled the oven mitt off of Bucky’s hand and steered his out of the kitchen to the floor in from of their Christmas tree. “Calm down and open presents with me.” He kissed him on the cheek, “Merry Christmas my love.”   
When Bucky and Steve properly looked at the presents under the tree it really did look like Santa had come to visit them, but based on the glaring red and gold wrapping paper, it was a different gift-bearing man in a red suit. They each dragged a few presents to themselves and began tearing through paper and tape. Both of them opened gifts until there were three presets left: one for Bucky and two for Steve. They both worked to unwrap the large square box addressed to Steve; inside…was Steve’s shield with a green sticky note on it. 

Steve, whether you’re the Captain or not, this has always and will always be yours.  
P.S. You and Barnes are both traitors to the great city of New York. You ought to be ashamed.  
-T.S. 

“Who knew Howard’s son would be such a drama queen.” Bucky leaned his head on Steve’s shoulder, “Or that I would be in love with such a sap.” Steve gave a watery laugh in response. 

They sat on the floor in silence, staring at the shield, before reaching for their final gifts. Steve pulled off the red bow and opened the small box to find a rose gold pocket watch with an inscription that read: You’re my home. Use this to count every second I’m thankful to carry your heart in mine. “You jerk, how could you accuse me of being a sap when you pull this stunt?” Steve tugged Bucky to lay his head in his lap and pressed a firm kiss to his lips. “I love it. And you…even thought you got your inspiration from a Christmas ghost.” Bucky turned his head a blew a breath against Steve’s stomach, causing the muscles to jump and twitch as Steve barked out a laugh. “Stop it jerk. Open your damn present.”  
“Nah, I think I’ll wait a little bit longer.” This time when Bucky turned his head he mouthed soft, open mouthed kisses on Steve’s stomach; gradually sitting up to work them further up Steve’s chest and neck before ending up nibbling behind his ear. “You wanna be one of my presents Stevie? Can I unwrap you first?” Steve heavily exhaled and shifted his weight to roll Bucky’s body underneath his.   
“Maybe I wanna unwrap you instead.” He pushed Bucky’s shirt up and over his head and went to work licking the newly exposed skin; he worked lower and lower until Bucky’s bottoms were hanging dangerously low on his hips, exposing the dark trail of hair on his lower stomach that Steve couldn’t wait to get his mouth on. Bucky took advantage of Steve’s momentary distraction with his ogling and quickly took control, flipping them once more and tugging off Steve’s shirt in one fell swoop.   
“Nope. You’re my present this year.” He fused his mouth to Steve’s and worked his hand between them to paw at his partners hard erection through his pajama pants causing needy whimpers and moans to end up swallowed into their kisses. The pants were rapidly causing for too much trouble for Bucky’s liking so he raised up on his knees and removed their pants, leaving their rapidly heating flesh bare. Bucky kneeled over Steve, admiring his beautiful physique for a moment before leaning down and taking Steve’s cock into his mouth. Steve arched off the floor and grabbed a handful of Bucky’s newly-shorn hair, “Buck please.” Bucky worked his jaw and tongue in order to drag more delicious sounds out of his lover’s mouth, savoring the weight and taste on his tongue.   
Steve was consumed by Bucky, he couldn’t think about anything other than the sweet heat of the mouth on his flesh and the firm hand gripping his ass. He loved every sensation Bucky was giving him, but he knew that if Bucky kept up his actions then it would be over too soon. He tightened his grip on Bucky’s hair, pulling slightly to get his mouth to disconnect from his body, “Bucky, stop, please, I need to feel more of you.”   
Bucky wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and slid up Steve’s body to lay hot kisses against his throats, “Okay baby, I’ve got you.” He worked his hips up against Steve’s to line up their cocks, slick with saliva and precum. “Lemme take care of you, Stevie, don’t know how I’ve went so long without feeling you like this.” Bucky knew he was rambling, but he just felt so good, the rhythmic motions of their bodies creating a wonderful friction that was building with every thrust and jerk. Soon, Bucky could hardly handle the sensations anymore, “Stevie, are you close? I’m so close. I gotta make you feel good, baby, tell me you’re close.”  
“I’m close Buck, just need a little bit more. Please, please, please, please Buck.” Steve felt Bucky pick up his pace and knew that that was it. He felt a euphoric fire race through his body as his muscles tightened and relaxed. Bucky felt Steve’s release and quickly followed him on his own wave of pleasure; the whole world reduced to one speck of light: Steve.   
They remained tangled in a heap on the floor in front of their Christmas tree until their breathing slowed and their regained control of their senses. “Get offa me Bucky; you’re sticky and heavy.” Bucky grunted and rolled off of Steve to lie beside him. Steve reached over and grabbed Bucky’s hand.   
“Stevie?”  
“Yeah, Buck?”  
“What did you get me for Christmas?”  
“Socks.”  
“I hate you…but I love being home.” Bucky squeezed Steve hand and sighed. Yeah, he loved being home.


End file.
